Martyr
by Rhearenee
Summary: Zombie apocalypse AU. Words left unsaid, feelings left unexplored. She should've done something sooner.


_Hey, so this is purely an experimental piece, I legit had a dream that was note to note almost like this and I just had to write it. Also wanted to branch out and try something different._

_Before starting something of note: this is a no magic AU. Also includes major character death and gore, like it's a zombie AU, the gore is pretty much a given. So be warned. _

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She swiped the sweat off her forehead, panting harshly. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably and her clothes stuck to her like a second skin from all of the running she'd been doing. By the looks of it, she was going have to do more running.

Swiping her clammy palms on her shorts Lucy walked up to the window where Gray was scanning the front entrance of the apartment building.

"Did you find anything?" he asked, sparing her a small glance before returning to survey the front.

Lucy sighed heavily, showing the machete she found in a closet. "Only this. There were other smaller knives around, but I doubt anyone wants to get that close up to those monsters to use them."

"Take them anyway. They could be useful in an emergency. Also, grab whatever else you see is useful. I'll go to the next apartment over and see what they got." Gray harshly drew the curtains closed and strode out of the apartment with heavy steps, face hard.

Lucy bit her lip, watching his back. She snuck a quick peek through the closed curtains. It was just as she'd imagined – a horde of zombies were surrounding the entrance they used to enter the complex. They'd chose to scavenge the third floor and up in hopes to find something to use as weapons and also to keep out of the sights of the zombies. Although it looked like that hadn't worked too well. The creatures must be following not only their sight but their other senses as well.

They were running out of time. Unless they wanted to get hopelessly surrounded they needed to leave immediately.

Lucy followed Gray's suggestion and packed the knife roll in a backpack she found laying around. Whoever this person was was a huge fan of knives. She only got a brief look of them, but all of the knives had detailed designs on them, probably meant for decorative purposes. She also found a black and orange letterman jacket thrown across the back of a chair. She was wearing only a simple white top and shorts to avoid the summer heat. Through short consideration, she threw the oversized jacket on for extra protection. Who knows how the infection spread.

Only two hours had passed ever since they'd seen the first zombie and something akin to an apocalypse had started instantaneously – people running around like headless chickens, chaos setting in, the zombies increasing in numbers, gore all over the city of Magnolia. It was horrible. She saw people she knew walking around as zombies or laying dead and that was a sight that she had never wanted to see.

Before the start of the chaos, she had walked with Gray to the guild, after everything had started they'd managed to find Wendy among the chaos, helped Cana out of the clutches of a zombie and ran into Jet when they'd been searching for something to fight back with. They barely had time to share stories, none of them knew what had happened and if anyone else was alive (apart from Droy whom Jet had killed when he'd turned).

They met up in the middle apartment on the third floor. It wasn't looking good. The zombies were pouring in through the front door they'd managed to break. The second door was the only barrier between the zombies and the stairwell now.

They quickly shared their findings among themselves. No one had found anything better than knives or...golf clubs? (Where the hell did Cana pull those out from?) Her machete was the best they got at the moment.

"We're surrounded, the exit is blocked. The only chance we might have is the first story window to get out of here," Jet commented as he closed the door behind him, silencing the moans and grunts of the zombies that came from the stairwell.

"Let's move then," Cana spoke up as she strapped a knife holster to her belt and pulled her hair in a ponytail.

They didn't spare any more words between themselves and made their way downstairs. Gray kicked in the first door they saw just as the door that was holding the zombies back from them broke with a loud crash.

"Oh no!" Wendy's voice and hands shook, the knife in her hands trembling. The poor girl had been terrified out of her mind ever since she and Gray had found her. None of them were exactly fairing any better, but Lucy still was glad to see that the younger girl, despite her fear, was able to keep up with them without a complaint.

All of them swiftly scrambled in the apartment and Jet slammed the door closed as the growls of the zombies increased.

Without missing a beat Gray walked over to the closest window avoiding stepping on some toys and clutter strewn around on the floor. The crease in his brows deepened. "It's gonna be a bit of a drop, but I think we can make it before the zombies decide to surround the building."

Jet joined him at the window, surveying the surroundings. "I'll go first and clear a path for us."

Nobody objected as the moaning and squelching of something Lucy did not want to identify neared them. The stench was horrid and she had to take short shallow breaths just so she wouldn't vomit on the spot.

With shaking hands, she increased her grip on her machete, Wendy by her side with a worried crease in her brow.

Jet unclasped the window clasps and jumped out without a sound.

"Uh, guys?" Cana spoke up, breaking the tense silence that had settled over them. Only Wendy appeared to hear her call. "I think one of those zombies might be Natsu."

Lucy turned to face Cana, who had opened the front door to a crack. Her breath lodged in her throat and her machete involuntarily lowered. Her throat was too constricted with fear to utter a single word. She did not believe the brunette at all. That couldn't be true. Not at all.

Leaving Wendy to latch onto Gray Lucy approached Cana with shaky steps.

"Fuck! I think it _is_ him. No one else has such obnoxiously coloured pink hair."

Wordlessly the blonde pushed the cursing Cana away from the door to peer through the crack herself. Her lip trembled as tears stung the corners of her eyes.

Amongst the masses of rotten flesh was a head full of pink spiky hair. The pink wasn't as vibrant as it usually was, being matted in dark brown blood. The slightly ripped and stained white scarf only solidified the fact that it was Natsu.

Tears blurred her eyes, yet she couldn't look away, couldn't get herself to move, too paralysed with shock. If it weren't for his signature scarf he'd blend in with the masses of the ash grey flesh of other zombies, bloodshot eyes and couple patches of skin completely missing. He wasn't as far off as some of the other zombies were, with limbs missing, bald heads or with complete chunks of flesh ripped out from their bodies.

"C'mon, Lucy, we have to go." Cana placed her hand on her shoulder, trying to rip her away from the door. The zombies were steadily approaching, falling over each other constantly in the process.

She didn't budge, even as the first zombie passed by their door, the stench of rotten, old flesh burning her eyes and nose.

"We need to go, Lucy. There's nothing you can do." Cana became more pushy, latching onto her arm to try and drag her to the window.

Breaking out of her stupor the blonde violently yanked her hand free, glaring at the brunette through watery eyes. "No!"

"Lucy." This time Gray spoke up, clear warning in his tone. "We have to go, we don't have much time."

She turned her glare towards the raven-haired man this time, baring her teeth in a snarl. "I can't leave him like this!" Her clammy grip on her machete shook. Something inside her clenched as the need to sob became stronger.

"We don't have a choice, believe me, I'm not happy about it either, but I'm not going to leave you here," Cana hissed as she gripped onto her free wrist painfully, her eyes shining with her unshed tears.

The commotion outside the door became louder and it was only a moment before a zombie would stumble into their apartment.

Gray left his post near the window to latch onto her shaking hand with the machete in it, jaw set. "I'm not leaving you either. Whatever it is you're thinking, drop it. We're leaving. Wendy and Jet are waiting outside."

Both of them dragged her towards the window as she quite pathetically tried to dig her heels into the floor. The carpet she had upturned was delaying their progress, but not by much. "I can't leave like this," she repeated.

The front door flew open and a completely rotten zombie fell in, dousing the air with its putrid stench.

Cana and Gray didn't squabble around, dragging her faster. The brunette immediately jumped out of the window with a loud grunt. Gray was pushing her to follow.

More zombies ploughed in, gurgling and dragging their feet, leaving trails of dark brown blood behind.

She tried to slap Gray's hands away and avoid his grabs, though he was persistent almost catching her hands. At the last moment, she pushed him and he stumbled and fell out of the window backwards. Eyes widening, she rushed to the window sill to peer outside it.

Thankfully Jet had been there to catch him before he'd broken his spine from the fall.

"Lucy! What are you doing?" Cana shouted.

Lucy screamed as she felt a zombie touch her. Instinctively swivelling around on her heel she swung her machete, catching the zombie in its shoulder with a sick cracking noise, making it fall on the ground.

Her breath got stuck in her throat. She was surrounded. It was either stay or jump. Lucy peered back at the window. She couldn't get herself to jump, not until she hadn't taken care of Natsu. It pained her to admit it, but she would rather kill him than see him prance around in this state and Mavis forbid he killed someone else.

The others down below were shouting for her to jump, the noise drawing even more attention to them.

Lucy slashed at another zombie that came too close, surprised with how easily the blade chopped off its neck. The decayed zombie fell, almost falling apart once it did. For how recent the outbreak had been it was unexpected to see zombies that were so far off, bordering on being nothing but skeletons with chunks of flesh attached.

"Please, Lucy." Amongst the shouts of her friends, she caught Wendy's trembling voice.

The blonde haphazardly slashed at two other zombies, this time her machete almost got stuck on the head of the second zombie. For a brief moment, she turned back to look outside to where her friends were huddled around each other, hiding in the few trees, waiting for her to make the jump. She smiled sadly, making a point to avoid their panicked eyes. Steeling her resolve and tightening the hold on her machete she marched forward, swinging almost blindly at each zombie that extended their hands towards her.

She belatedly realized that she recognized some of the zombies as people she saw regularly around Magnolia. This made her blanch. Of course, Natsu couldn't be the only one she knew to fall to the sudden outbreak.

Thankfully, the zombies were slow and some of them even collapsed on themselves from the rapid rate they were decaying. Unfortunately, some almost looked like regular people with just ashen skin, bloodshot eyes and a bite wound. Lucy couldn't make a single sense of the virus. Not that it mattered.

She gagged when a particular zombie she slashed sprayed blood everywhere, coating her hair and clothes with it in the process. Another latched onto her arm and she was glad that she had had the foresight to put on that jacket. The zombie had the slimiest fingers ever, staining her jacket in deep brown. A quick swing of her machete got rid of it.

Her breath stilled when someone spoke. It was unintelligible, but she swore that she could almost make out the word 'help'. Shivers ran down her spine. The room suddenly felt constricting. She had to get out.

Running through other zombies that had wandered into the apartment she made her way into the dark stairwell, rapidly searching for ahead of pink hair and scaly scarf.

Lucy gasped when she finally located him in the middle of the herd at the bottom of the stairwell, aimlessly bobbing around with the other zombies.

Some of the more aware zombies locked on to her and came snarling her way. She either dodged their hands or slashed at them. She didn't even check if she'd incapacitated the zombies she slashed at, having her sights only set on one zombie.

She blindly swung at the zombies in her path. Once she was right before Natsu she faltered, the same lump constricting her throat. She couldn't do this, even if it would be mercy at this point she couldn't just cut him down like some rabid animal. It already hurt doing that to others, she just couldn't turn a blind eye this time. This was Natsu, her friend. Scratch that, he was her best friend and partner. There was so much she had wanted to say to him.

Her stationary state caught the attention of some of the zombies, even Natsu. They attacked her, grabbing onto her shoulders and arms. She swung at the closest zombie and tried to shimmy out of their hold. One of the zombies fell from the stairs, knocking into her, catching her by surprise. She stumbled forward right into zombie Natsu, almost losing the grip on her machete.

Her mind blanked. What should she do? A zombie scratched at her jacket, another one bit down on her shoulder and Natsu straight up hugged her, biting her in the neck in the process. Lucy screamed, her weapon falling from her fingers as the zombies descended on her. She could feel the bite from Natsu pierce the skin, pain trailing down from her neck to her shoulder where the other zombie broke through her jacket.

She latched onto Natsu, her legs giving out as tears finally fell from her eyes. Her whole body felt like it was on fire, white, hot pain souring through her from the bite wounds. Yet she felt cold, numbness eventually setting over her limbs.

The zombie that had been gnawing on her shoulder, leaving a mess of torn flesh and bone sticking out detached from her, suddenly losing all interest in her.

Lucy was cold, very cold. The tears from her eyes dried out involuntarily, yet she couldn't stop hacking.

Natsu still held onto her, face buried in the juncture of her shoulder and neck. He hadn't gnawed on her apart from the first bite.

Cold hands circled her waist, pulling her closer.

Through her agonizing bouts of pain rippling all over her shoulder, a voice reached her ears. Somebody was speaking again. It was nearly incomprehensible. She gasped. The voice sounded a lot like Natsu, whispering things in her ears.

Tears that she couldn't shed stung her eyes. Her thoughts were muddy and coldness was seeping all through her body, the pain leaving her.

"I... didn't mean to do that." The achingly familiar voice was a lot clearer now. "I'm sorry."

Lucy trembled, her hacking breaths replacing her lack of tears. This was so much worse. So, so much worse. She clung her unfeeling fingers into his stained jacket, feeling him quiver.

She wanted to speak, but her voice didn't work any more, bubbling sounds instead coming out as her blood pooled in her mouth. She was paralysed. Her skin lost its colour right before her eyes.

Natsu dragged her outside.

Blonde strands of hair flew off in the wind, chunks of pink joining later. Her body was shutting down. Something was eating her up from the inside.

The other zombies paid them no mind, falling over in a decaying mess or aimlessly shuffling around amongst themselves. She was one of them now, decaying just as fast, her skin peeling off.

Natsu managed to drag her to the nearby canal, between some trees.

Through bleary eyes she inspected him. He was looking straight at her, but there was no life in his green eyes. Lucy raised her hand. Suddenly her legs gave out and she fell on the ground with a sickening crunch.

He nearly fell with her, managing to hold onto his balance only because she'd ripped off his arm along with her fall.

Lucy groaned, clawing at the ground. The world seemed to lose its colour, details becoming blurry. Her limbs were numb and she couldn't tell up from down. She was too afraid to look at her own body.

Natsu was hovering behind her, oddly quiet. "I'm...sorry…I...I...lov-" His scrambled sentence got cut off. The other zombies rose at attention, Natsu following them.

She finally managed to turn herself to look at him. Blood fell from her lips when she opened her mouth. She tried to speak, to get him to finish what he was trying to say. Was he about to really…?

Through her foggy mind, the voices of Cana and Jet reached her. Their friends, they were still alive. Lucy rolled over, vision swimming.

Natsu scrambled after the two figures running away in the distance. A horde of zombies followed.

She hacked, breath wet with blood. Lodging her fingers in the ground, she dragged her body towards the others, the same instinct to run after the living overpowering her. A sickening squelch reached her ears and she tried her damnedest not to think about it or how the sound seemed to have come from her own body. A pool of blood spread around her.

She raised her head just in time to see Cana throw a bottle at the closest zombie, Jet near her swinging a golf club in a zombie's skull.

Where are the others? Where are Gray and Wendy?

Natsu was in the horde, only distinguishable by his scaly scarf. He was just like the others, the same decaying mass of flesh.

Cana threw another bottle and it hit Natsu straight in the face. He toppled over.

Her voice came out as a strangled moan. She clawed at the ground, dragging herself closer to his body. Just a little bit more. Please, please. Her vision was swimming, everything looking like grey blobs. She should have told him, she should have…

Why didn't she?

Black, everything was black. She couldn't feel, she couldn't see, she couldn't hear.

She should have told him that she loved him.

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_I love bad endings lol. Let's just imagine that in the afterlife they managed to say what they wanted to say. _


End file.
